


If You Could Sit Still

by aquazephyrus



Series: I Knew You'd Finally Understand [3]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 06:25:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3198797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquazephyrus/pseuds/aquazephyrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron learns you never argue with Spencer when you're sick. Or even try to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If You Could Sit Still

**Author's Note:**

> "Health is not valued 'til sickness comes." Thomas Fuller.

He's laying on Spencer's couch with a defeated gaze; the young genius walks over and quietly hands him a cup of tea, sitting on his left side. It's Aaron's dominant one, and he doesn't want to honestly make the man feel any less in control than he certainly does right now. A large, red fleece blanket is around Aaron's shoulders, and the unit chief takes the drink with a murmur of thanks. 

It's silent in the room as he sips with a wince. Hot tea was never his strong suit. It was always coffee to keep himself alert, or whiskey to knock the sickness out of his body. But Spencer absolutely _insists_ at this, throwing in some honey with the lemon to at least give it a little sweetness. 

\- - - 

Aaron knew the moment that he entered the office with that slight cough that he wasn't going to get out without someone being a mother hen and scooting him out the door. But what didn't occur to him was that it _would_ be Spencer ordering him to either go home, or he'd force him home. And when Aaron pointedly gestured to the files on his desk, Spencer instantly distributed them amongst the team and ushered him out himself. 

What the unit chief didn't think of was the fact that he'd be going to the other man's home and sitting in the current position that he was in. 

\- - - 

He looks down at his tea with an oddly silent gaze, and Spencer finally sighs and shakes his head. "Hotch..." 

"I'm perfectly capable of working," the man defends, coughing with a growl and sniffling in the process. "It's just a slight cold. Maybe a mild tinge of the flu. We both know how children can catch whatever is at school and pass it to other family members." 

Spencer bites his lip and exhales. He knows talking to his friend, even when sick, is like talking to a damn brick wall. "Did you consider the fact that it could be _you_ who might be the cause?" 

Aaron makes a noise of disapproval. 

"You _have_ been working solid fifty-five hour weeks. The number of lunch breaks you take in that time have been cut to three, and even then, it's only in fifteen minute increments. Coffee breaks are you going out of the office, pouring yourself a cup that makes a styrofoam cup look generous. Then you go back in, barely talking to anyone except if they come in. And it's an average of seven minute and three seconds that you spend with that sort of interaction in a day." 

Before the man can open his mouth, Spencer gives him a look. _That_ look. And it silences Aaron right up. 

"Your immune system is at its lowest I've seen. And... we know you're the leader and you have to set that example. But." Spencer swallows. "You can't set it if you're crawling to work every day." 

Aaron's gaze goes right back to his drink with another solid cough. Spencer quietly places a hand on the man's left knee and gives it the gentlest squeeze. 

"I'm not going to let you leave until you feel better. Physically and mentally. You've got to get yourself okay again. And if that means sleeping and me going over to check on Jack and the babysitter while you stick around and just... have a few days off? I'll do that." 

It was one of very few times Aaron couldn't argue with the genius. Not like this.


End file.
